The Golden Bough A study of magic and religion

Page: 132

In some parts of Western Africa two kings reign side by side, a
fetish or religious king and a civil king, but the fetish king is
really supreme. He controls the weather and so forth, and can put a
stop to everything. When he lays his red staff on the ground, no
one may pass that way. This division of power between a sacred and
a secular ruler is to be met with wherever the true negro culture
has been left unmolested, but where the negro form of society has
been disturbed, as in Dahomey and Ashantee, there is a tendency to
consolidate the two powers in a single king.

In some parts of the East Indian island of Timor we meet with a
partition of power like that which is represented by the civil king
and the fetish king of Western Africa. Some of the Timorese tribes
recognise two rajahs, the ordinary or civil rajah, who governs the
people, and the fetish or taboo rajah, who is charged with the
control of everything that concerns the earth and its products.
This latter ruler has the right of declaring anything taboo; his
permission must be obtained before new land may be brought under
cultivation, and he must perform certain necessary ceremonies when
the work is being carried out. If drought or blight threatens the
crops, his help is invoked to save them. Though he ranks below the
civil rajah, he exercises a momentous influence on the course of
events, for his secular colleague is bound to consult him in all
important matters. In some of the neighbouring islands, such as
Rotti and eastern Flores, a spiritual ruler of the same sort is
recognised under various native names, which all mean “lord
of the ground.” Similarly in the Mekeo district of British
New Guinea there is a double chieftainship. The people are divided
into two groups according to families, and each of the groups has
its chief. One of the two is the war chief, the other is the taboo
chief. The office of the latter is hereditary; his duty is to
impose a taboo on any of the crops, such as the coco-nuts and areca
nuts, whenever he thinks it desirable to prohibit their use. In his
office we may perhaps detect the beginning of a priestly dynasty,
but as yet his functions appear to be more magical than religious,
being concerned with the control of the harvests rather than with
the propitiation of higher powers.

XVIII. The Perils of the Soul

1. The Soul as a Mannikin

THE FOREGOING examples have taught us that the office of a
sacred king or priest is often hedged in by a series of burdensome
restrictions or taboos, of which a principal purpose appears to be
to preserve the life of the divine man for the good of his people.
But if the object of the taboos is to save his life, the question
arises, How is their observance supposed to effect this end? To
understand this we must know the nature of the danger which
threatens the king’s life, and which it is the intention of
these curious restrictions to guard against. We must, therefore,
ask: What does early man understand by death? To what causes does
he attribute it? And how does he think it may be guarded
against?